Mass State House Exhibition in Boston

The date for the reception for Massachusetts State House exhibition has been set. Tuesday May 6th 2008.  The event will start at 3 pm in Nurse's hall. 

The sponsors of the event: Rep. Story of Amherst, Rep.  Verga of Gloucester and Sen McGee will introduce the speakers: Tyler Boudreau, Margaret Oglesby, and Melida and Carlos Arredondo. The Arredondos will read a letter from their son Alexander Arredondo who was killed in action.  The portraits and statements of Tyler, Margaret, and Alexander are all available on the 100 Faces website.  I will provide the closing statements.

This will be an important event in which to bring first hand accounts of the American experience of these wars to the policy makers of Massachusetts and to the public.  The State house with its rich history and historical items from all previous American wars provides an enlightening context for the exhibition.  

When I walked around the State House to figure out how to bring the exhibition to this place I was struck by an important insight.  In this historical government building there are many sculptures and painted portraits which try to capture a historical moment and convey history to the public.  The idea of using portraits and words to convey history is very time tested idea. 

However, these portraits in the state house are of the military and political and social leaders of their days.  Nowhere is there a group of portraits and statements representing a cross section of experiences of a historical event.  Nowhere in the state house.  Why would this be a uniquely modern idea?

It does give me hope to think that our society is capable of  hearing from all perspectives now.  Perhaps in the past society was not ready to engage in this kind of deep exploration of an event.

Matt Mitchell

Tyler Boudreau's Book "Packing Inferno" will be out September 2008

I had the opportunity to read one of Tyler Boudreau's early manuscripts for this book.  I was impressed with that and would have recommended it to everyone.  However, he soon said he would prefer I didn't let people see it.  He was working on deep revisions to make it a better book.  I tried to discourage him from changing it but fortunately he did not listen.  

As a result of his bold re envisionings of his book, what he has written now is an astonishingly well put together work offering insights which are the product of rigorous examination of his own experience and of the world around us.  The book communicates from the place of someone who has been a marine in a deep sense of the word.  He conveys his experiences in the Marine Corps, which  encompassed his life for 12 years, with great lucidity and care.  Yet this book is about his perceptions of the problems with that world and his transformation out of that world.  

For people who find themselves on that same road I imagine this will be a great book for reflecting their own experiences. For those of us with a non-military history it is an incredible look into the society which is the Marine Corps and the military experience of Iraq. It is rich with beautifully expressed insights.  Of all the books coming out now about the American experience of the war in Iraq this is a stand out achievement.  It will challenge your perceptions of events and you won't be able to put it down.

Mass State House Exhibition

The opportunity to exhibit at the Massachusetts state house is really extraordinary.  The exhibition which will be from May 5-15th is timed as closely as possible to memorial day.  The sponsors of the exhibition are rep.  Ellen Story of amherst, MA and Rep. Anthony Verga, chairman of the Mass. Department of Veteran's Affairs of gloucester.  

As soon as I hear when the opening reception will be I will post it on the exhibition part of the site as well as this blog.

Thanks to all who have been a part of this project to date.  With the continued support 100 Faces is receiving and increasing frequency of exhibitions it looks like the messages of the project are getting through to people. 

Thanks,

Matt Mitchell

When is it a good idea to leave names mentioned blank?

Upon thinking about the issue of people naming peers in the project I have come to a decision about a new protocol for the statements.  This new thing is just a very small change which may not actually affect anyone's statements over the continuing course of the 100 Faces project.  However, It is a new rule  which will be explained to all new people in the project.  In short I think the project should reserve the right to leave blank the name of individuals named in the statements in the 100 faces project if the  individual named is mentioned in a potentially negative light.  

In order to arrive at the most candid statements from people I want to use as little editorial influence as possible.  The project really is and should be about people saying whatever they want to to the biggest extent possible.  However, 100 Faces would like to make sure that people do not use 100 Faces as a venue to conduct personal feuds or mete out punishments upon people.  These issues came up within Lt. Col. Vacchi's statement and are gone into in some depth on the blog here.  I do not feel that Lt. Col. Vacchi is conducting a feud or meting out punishments inappropriately, however I can see that it could be interpreted that way and may encourage other people to tread on that thin line.  As lt. Col. Vacchi states, it is important to recognize mismanagement, etc. and the project should certainly not discourage criticism.  However, the fact of the mismanagement mentioned by Lt. Col. Vacchi can be recognized without naming names specifically in the venue of the 100 Faces project.  If people care to look up the issues which a person describes in order to develop a specific history of people involved in a given situation it would be more appropriate for them to learn the specific names of the people involved through that deeper research.

"Surviving Iraq" now published

The recently published book "Surviving Iraq" by Elise Forbes Tripp includes longer stories from many of the people whose portraits and statements are included in 100 Faces of War Experience.  Mrs. Tripp has interviewed many enlisted veterans of Iraq in an effort to connect the public with the reality of our nation's experience of war. The families of two Marines who lost their lives as a result of their service in Iraq are also given voice in Elise's book.  Elise and I have had many conversations over the course of the past couple years and our related work has brought us into contact with many of the same people.   We have referred each other to veterans who we have met.  As a result many people in the book "Surviving Iraq" will be familiar to you who have viewed the 100 Faces project.  Reading her book is a very good way to gain a fuller understanding of these experiences which you have been introduced to here in the 100 Faces project.

Currently the following people interviewed in "Surviving Iraq" are also pictured in 100 Faces of War Experience:

Rich Riley

Pablo Rodriguez

David Vacchi

Tanya Karst

Lydia Rodriguez

Scott Palmer

Two families of Marines who have lost their lives have also been part of both "Surviving Iraq" and 100 Faces of War Experience:

Joyce and Kevin Lucey, the parents of Jeff Lucey

Melida and Carlos Arredondo, the parents of Alexander Arredondo

Elise Forbes Tripp's book is an excellent way to understand that each of the statements made by the people pictured in 100 Faces of War Experience is the tip of an iceberg, the visible part of a much larger story.

Thank you Elise and all of you were part of "Surviving Iraq".

Matt 

Post from David vacchi

Lt Col David Vacchi is one of the people whose portrait is included in 100 Faces. In his statement he named his commanding officer, COL Stramara. A couple viewers of the project advised that I blank out the name of Stramara until I know whether the project could be held Libel for the use of his name. I think everything will be fine and that I will be able to restore David Vacchi's quote to include Stramara's name soon. In the mean time David has written the following post to say why it is important to name COL Stramara.

David Vacchi said...

Matt has developed an amazing series of modern art, by bringing to life the personal thoughts and images of some of us who have been to the most recent wars in the Middle East. In my own experiences it is clear that our senior leadership was completely out of touch with what was really going on in the war and what it would take to win the war. This has resulted in our still being in a quagmire. With Gen Patreus taking command, we have a chance to change the tone of the way this war is being waged... It is a small chance. The military needs a major change in philosophy in order to understand modern warfare. Those that try to engage the local populace as a primary means to establish security and stability have been chastised for doing so. This is my story and how COL Kevin Stramara of the 4th ID ended my career, by refusing to embrace the right way to win in Iraq and discriminating against me for generating results without killing or mistreating Iraqis. His techniques resulted in increased violence and Abu-Graib-like treatment of detainees. Tragic. I'm glad his career is over after 5+ investigations into his conduct and poor leadership during the war. As for me, I'm glad to be moving on with the final stages of my career and on to the next chapter in my life without compromising my integrity or honor. There is no honor in people like Stramara. At least I can look in the mirror each morning when I shave.

New Baghdad Journal from Steve Mumford

Steve Mumford is an artist/independent journalist whose portrait is included in 100 Faces. He has an incredible new addition to his Baghdad Journal now posted on line. It consists of drawings and commentary from a stay in spring 2007 at a hospital in the green zone. In this work Steve captures what cameras cannot capture in this war. The images are graphic as is the commentary. It is an unblinking look at this war which you cannot see elsewhere. Though vivid it is caring and respectful.

Click on the large text which is the heading for this post in order to see steve Mumford's Baghdad Journal.

American Artist Article

The magazine American Artist just wrote a great article about the technique that Matt uses when he does the paintings for this project. I've added a link on the sidebar, or you can go to the link here to check it out. In addition to being published on the web, this issue will also be coming out on paper on July 31.

-Sarah Hunter, contact coordinator.